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Thursday, September 15, 2011

A striking feature of the Tasmanian Timber's Clock is the Huon Pine clock face. Twelve 1/4" wooden plugs made from Blackheart Sassafras and Ebony form the hour markers. Here's a few photos of it's construction.

The first step was preparing the timber. After initial machine milling, resawing was needed. I used a circular saw to make a grove on each side, then used a hand saw to cut through the 265mm piece of huon. This took a few sessions and my arm is still feeling it.

The two halves cleaned up beautifully after a quick trip through the planer.

The plugs were quick work with a 1/4" snug plug cutter and a bench drill.

The layout was straight forward. The face is 200x200mm. The centre was found by diagonals. Lines then made at 30 degrees. A compass set to 90m made the plugs too close to the edge, but 85mm worked well.

Back to the drill press, the centre was drilled out to take the movement. Then a dowel trimmed to size acted as a pivot point to ensure all the plugs were even from the centre.

The plugs were then glued with epoxy. Ebony was used for 12, 3, 6 & 9. Sassafras for the remainder. Now I just have to wait for the glue to set and then sand it all back. Not bad.